You're Living in a Man's World
by Citizenjess
Summary: Moira MacTaggert discovers that mutants exist, and nothing is ever the same after that. Implied Erik/Charles, Charles/Moira.


Summary: Moira MacTaggert discovers that mutants exist, and nothing is ever the same after that. Written using Table 30-A from the 100-prompts LJ is from a song from the "A Chipmunk Adventure" movie, of all things. Implied Erik/Charles, Charles/Moira.

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><p><strong>You're Living in a Man's World<strong>

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><p>001. Evidence: She doesn't believe in even the mere likelihood of mutantkind until the evidence stares her flatly in the face - even as a child, she was ridiculously pragmatic and proof-seeking - and then it's there, pressed against her nose, tantalizing and unafraid, and it's all Moira MacTaggert can do to wonder how she'd never seen it before.<p>

002. I'm Here: She seems to have a chance at charming the already charmed Charles Xavier, and then he pulls the German, metal-bending mutant out of the water like a prized fish, and after that, she might as well be invisible.

003. Funeral: There's not enough left of Darwin to have a proper burial, but they hold a small funeral service, and Moira is comforted by Charles' mental acknowledgment that 'this is a terrible ordeal, but it will bring them closer, make them a proper team.'

004. Puppy Love: Her superiors at the CIA would call it "puppy love" and scoff that she's too much of a girl to be taken seriously among their ranks, but Moira swears she can feel her heart fluttering the first time Charles begins chatting her up telepathically, the lilting tenor of his voice replaying in her head over and over, making her swoon like the lovesick girl she actually is, long after the conversation is over.

005. Gloves: Russia is cold, but as Moira watches Charles wiggle his digits through the holes in a pair of dark, fingerless gloves, the temperature in the room seems to rise a few degrees of its own accord.

006. Blackboard: Moira's initial excitement over Charles' humble acknowledgment that "I don't speak Russian, I'm afraid" is quickly dashed when Erik clamps a heavy hand on the smaller man's shoulder and, shooting Moira a coded frown, announces that he'll "take care of it," but she proffers a pad of paper and a pen anyways and tries to mask her disappointment that it won't be her teaching a brilliant study like Charles something useful.

007. Muse: "I wonder if you could learn to use the earth's electromagnetic force to fly, Erik," Moira hears Charles say, and it's not the first time she wishes she, too, were a mutant, so Charles would be as fascinated by her as he is by Erik being able to twist doorknobs without touching them.

008. Magic: Her colleague approves of Raven's transformation as the best magic trick he's ever seen, but privately, Moira thinks Charles' mutation is better; or not so privately, given the covertly coy smile Charles gives her when the thought flits through her mind.

009. Clean: The mansion is surprisingly clean and orderly for how long it's been empty, and Moira can't resist ribbing Charles about how quickly that will change with a bunch of teenagers taking up residency there; of course, Charles returns the teasing with a pleased, enigmatic smile and resumes dusting his study.

010. Secret: Moira's pretty sure that Charles knows that she knows how close Erik was standing to him in the kitchen while everyone else was asleep, how his lips brushed the shorter man's ear, how it made Charles grin and look up at him adoringly through ridiculously long lashes - it's her own fault for being in this predicament at all, of course, because she could very well have just foregone her night-time tradition of warm milk - but he doesn't ask, or make her forget, and so she doesn't tell.

011. Superstition: "All the good ones are taken or they don't like women," Moira's mother once told her jokingly, but as she counts the number of not-very-discreet glances that Charles and Erik shoot each other at breakfast that morning (three, so far), she starts to believe the adage might be true.

012. Fantasy: More than once, Moira fantasizes about what it would be like to be the wife of Charles Xavier, to spend their days side-by-side in Charles' homemade laboratory, studying slides and talking genetics over thick books and indulging the possible list of mutations that their children would have; sometimes, when she wakes up in one of several guest rooms in the mansion, she keeps her eyes closed and pretends that her soft-spoken host is but inches away, watching her sleep.

013. Test: Hank didn't make a suit for her, and she tries not to feel bad about not truly being part of the team, as it were; she watches Erik test the zippers on his suit - he doesn't need to touch any of the metal bits - and when he starts magnetically controlling the parts on Charles' own suit, the smaller man laughs softly, and Erik joins in, and Moira realizes it's the first genuine smile she's ever seen on his face.

014. Tease: Charles calls her "love" once, and it's just his way, a colloquialism born of his breeding and time spent out of the States; she keeps reminding herself of this, keeps reminding herself that she's not special, just an acquaintance upon whom Charles can bestow his typical kindness, because deep down, past her deepest desires, she knows this to be the truth.

015. Storm: The first time Moira sees a storm blazing in Charles Xavier's eyes (he of an otherwise unflappable constitution) is in response to her off-handed comment about the potential danger of taking Erik back to the CIA headquarters with them; "I don't care that he's dangerous, Agent MacTaggert," he snaps, and Moira holds up her hands in supplication, because Charles is something of a dangerous man himself, apparently.

016. Strawberries: Charles' mouth is red like strawberries, and Moira is embarrassed to find herself blushing at breakfast when he offers her some fruit with her cereal and then absently licks his own lips after sipping his tea.

017. Weapon: There's something about the casually graceful way Erik holds the gun, even in repose, the careless ease undermining raw power that teems just below the surface, that makes Moira uneasy.

018. Beach: Everything goes wrong on the beach, and everything since that day has felt slightly off-kilter to Moira, as though at any juncture, one simple action could right everything on its axis; but nothing ever does.

019. Lost: In spite of what it should mean to have Charles to herself now, deep down, Moira realizes that with Erik gone, Charles' heart is lost, too.

020. Cry: They cry together when Erik manages to move the satellite dish, and Moira reluctantly interrupts the intimate celebration and her guilty enjoyment of it to tell them that the President's address has begun.

021. Aloof: "Oh, you're coming, too," Erik mutters at her as they load up two different vehicles to travel to wherever Charles' safe-house is, and it's the only direct interaction they have.

022. Blood: Charles' blood stains the white sand and rounds out the primary colors of his suit where the bullet flies into his spine and leaves a splotch on the leg of Moira's jumpsuit where she cradles him against her and sobs about how sorry she is that this has happened, and when it dries, it hardens and turns brown.

023. Tower Block: When she wakes up in her apartment the next day, her head feels emptier, somehow, and she can't for anything remember going home.

024. Taxi: "For a $1,200 taxi ride, I hope this mutant's power is generating more mutants, or money," Moira exclaims into the static-y receiver, and hopes Charles is at least wincing a bit.

025. Search: Moira searches her mind thoroughly on numerous occasions for some more permanent proof that Charles Xavier existed besides trees and the faint outline of a large house and the phantom feel of soft lips on hers, but to no avail.

026. Writer's Choice: In another life, Moira thinks, she probably would resent Charles for being an oft-absent husband, and similarly, his child for reminding her so much of what she can barely hang onto anymore.

027. Writer's Choice: Years later, Charles will come to her and ask her to help him "deal with Magneto," and she'll say 'yes' because she can never say no to Charles Xavier, and it will only sit smugly in her chest for the first couple of minutes that Charles no longer calls the other man "Erik."

028. Writer's Choice: This satisfaction will dry up completely when Moira realizes that "dealing" with Magneto means raising him from infancy on a remote island; more than once, she catches the downy-haired toddler just in the nick of time before he has a chance to eat the batteries he's wrestled out of her TV remote or something equally horrid that a baby master of magnetism might do, and considers letting nature run its course.

029. Writer's Choice: It makes Moira laugh a little incredulously when Magneto demands to know what "you and Charles have done to me"; because, of course, Magneto will always blame others for taking Charles away from him; then his grip on her throat tightens, and the snickering turns to choked gasps.

030. Writer's Choice: Charles is dead, and then he's not, and Moira shouldn't be surprised because she believed wholeheartedly in the science that brings him back (or at least, she hoped that it would bring him back) but he greets her with a soft, familiar "hello, Moira" and she still drops everything she's holding in shock.


End file.
